


Curse of the Bambino

by peternurphy



Category: Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft, Dream Cycle - H. P. Lovecraft
Genre: Curse of the Bambino, Gen, Nyarlathotep rigs baseball to get revenge on Randolph Carter, i dont even know anything about sports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 02:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3674229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peternurphy/pseuds/peternurphy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Babe Ruth awakes in a strange place, approached by a strange being, with a strange proposal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Curse of the Bambino

After a night of what he would consider only mild debauchery, a man known as Babe Ruth finds himself in a palace of walls with patterns that don’t quite add up, and an abyss of darkness for a floor. The air smells not unpleasant but otherworldly, and his balance is off. After looking around for a minute he comes to the conclusion that this is a dream - but even with this realization all he can bring himself to do is walk farther into the palace along the missing floor.

He reaches a door that doesn’t fit into the wall, and won’t open whether he tries to push, pull, or slide it. “I’ve been brought here by somebody,” He thinks aloud, even though he knows that it’s an absolutely absurd prospect. But, as much as he knows it’s just a dream, Ruth can’t shake the feeling that there’s an underlying purpose to him being there.

He’s about to turn from the door and walk the other way down the hall when it clicks and opens. He watches as a cloud of blue-ish stars brushes past him, but he’s too apprehensive to turn around.

“George!”

At this point he whips around. A Pharaoh in strangely glimmering clothes stands before him, smiling cheerfully and surrounded by the blue stars. “I’m so happy you were able to come here!”

All Ruth manages is a high pitched “What?”, and the Pharaoh laughs. It sounds like a satchel full of gold coins. Ruth steps back, but is beckoned to come closer, and for some reason, he obliges. “I didn’t… I wasn’t trying…”

“I brought you here. I was a touch worried, considering that you aren’t a natural dreamer. But then I remembered that you can be quite the drinker, so I had an associate of mine slip something into a glass to facilitate this better. Don’t worry! There…” He looks to the side, as if confused. “I’m at least sixty percent sure that there aren’t any side effects on humans. But! That’s beside the point! I’m here to give you an offer.”

Ruth narrows his eyes. “How can you give me an offer? None of this is real. I don’t even know who you are.”

The Pharaoh’s eyes flash and Ruth feels horrific images from the waking world drilled into him. “I am Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, the soul and messenger of the Outer Gods. And this is much more real than you’d think.” Ruth wants to step back but he can’t. “Just listen to the offer! I need you to go to the Yankees.” The flashing images fade away and Nyarlathotep retains his happy expression. Ruth finds this much more uncomfortable than when Nyarlathotep is outright malevolent.

He shakes his head. “Why the hell would I do that? I got good pay, and I’m not gonna leave Boston. I’m gonna have to reject your offer.” He pauses, and adds with a heavy amount of acid, a “Sorry.”

Nyarlathotep’s smile falls and he looks disappointed. Then the smile returns - this time, the malice is clear. “Perhaps I phrased this incorrectly. I’m not giving you an offer, I’m giving you an order.”

“Listen, fella, I won’t do it. You can show me anything you want but I’m not gonna let you threaten me.” Ruth steps forwards to jab a finger into Nyarlathotep’s middle. 

There is silence. Nyarlathotep keeps his malicious smile and Ruth keeps his finger against Nyarlathotep’s chest. Then, the invisible floor is gone and he and Nyarlathotep are moving in no direction through the blackness. “Don’t be stupid, George. Don’t think that I only exist in this realm just because it’s the most convenient way to contact you. I can send people after you, or I can come to you myself. I just happen to like it here.” Ruth feels himself pushed back and his body freezes. He screams and it echoes around him, as if there’s a wall right next to his head.

“I’m not even the one who’d negotiate that! You’d have to talk to Harry! Harry Frazee!”

Nyarlathotep’s coin laugh sounds again, and Ruth whirls around as Nyarlathotep flickers in and out of his vision. “No, no, no. I don’t need him, and he seems like such a pain to deal with. I just need you to hold out for more and more pay. Eventually he’ll have to sell you off. I doubt that he’ll go for anyone else, but just in case…” He flicks his hand and pushes tendrils through Ruth’s face and torso and arms.

“But why?”

“Revenge! You see, a few months back - well, that’s the best way to describe it - a very powerful dreamer managed to get on my bad side. I’m not afraid to say he got the best of me, considering you’re my audience. I was going to kill him, but that’s just too obvious. Satisfying, but he’d expect that. So I think about this, and I decide to exploit - well, you! And basketball-”

“Baseball.”

“Whatever. Football, monopoly, I don’t really care. I just want him to know it’s me but have no proof, and no real reason to continue this little fight we’re having. And I suppose I can just kill you if I have to, but I really don’t want to. You might as well just acquiesce. ”

As they move through space with Nyarlathotep pushing through Ruth, he begins to realize that much more terrifying than this expanse of space is the extreme pettiness of this powerful being. “You’re willing to kill and invade minds just to sabotage a baseball team?”

“No, I’m willing to sabotage a baseball team to get revenge on this prick. Were you even listening?”

Ruth pulls away from the tendrils, but is brought closer. His head has been pounding throughout this conversation - if he can wake up and not be here anymore, he’ll do it. “Just let me go and I’ll try and get it to happen - but I can’t promise how Harry will deal.”

He’s brought back to the palace, and this time there’s an actual floor. Nyarlathotep leans in to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you! This makes things so much easier for me, you have no idea. He’ll be so paranoid…” 

Before Ruth can ask for more information, he finds himself awake in the hotel room.


End file.
